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winter storm, round two. hello, everybody. i'm david shuster live in the winter wonder land of washington, d.c. it is 10:00 a.m. here on the east coast and 7:00 a.m. out west. the skies this morning are gray and cloudy. apprehension is in the air as your nation's capital preps for another snowstorm. a lot of people are still trying to dig out from the blizzard that hit over the weekend. most neighborhood streets remain treacherous.

and thousands of homes are still without power. here's the latest radar on the storm on the way. we will show you who may be spared and who needs to brace themselves again. also, big news from toyota this morning. the japanese automaker has just announced its third recall in five months asking own eers of e 2010 prius to bring the hybrid in for repairs to deal with potentially faulty brakes. the recall will affect 280,000 american families. the u.s. government, though, is still not satisfied with toyota's action. and how about a free breakfast today? a nationwide restaurant is giving away food for no cost this morning. all you have to do is get there. we will explain. but we begin this hour with a city and a region that has just about had enough. washington, d.c., and much of the mid-atlantic region is preparing for another huge snowstorm, the second in four days. and we're not just talking a few inches here. forecasters are predicting the storm may dump 12 to 20 inches. furthermore, this storm is going

to stretch all the way to new england. that means new york and boston will not be spared this time. in the midwest, the snow has already started and icy conditions are now being reported for a lot of us here in washington, d.c., just the ordinary task of getting back and forth to work has been an adventure. as you can see many residential streets still haven't been plowed. and several main streets are icy and down to one lane. we have reporters and meteorologists all over the story here in washington, in the midwest, and back at msnbc headquarters in new york. let's begin with nbc's tom costello on the national mall. >> reporter: there's a 12:30 flight that i'm on, i'm out of here. here is my yardstick on the national mall. we have about 15 to 17 inches already. that is the official count over at reagan national airport. neighborhoods throughout the d.c. area report 30-plus inches. we had 30 inches in my neighborhood. now you add another foot or so

and this is going to be yet another blow, another crippling blow to a city that has already shut down. the federal government has shut down, day two of that. schools throughout the entire area are shut down. we still have people in this area without heat or power going on 48 hours. last note for you is that we have 45.1 inches so far this year total snowfall in washington. if we went to an all-time record that would be 54.4 set back in the late 1800s. we're heading that way. david, back to you. >> tom costello on the mall in washington. the snow falling in the midwest has not shut down any airports just yet but airline officials are warning that this day will become more and more challenging with each passing hour. for commuters trying to get into the city of chicago this day has already been something of a mess. the story from the windy city. >> reporter: here in chicago we are on day two of a three-day

storm. 10 inches of snow expected today and 4 inches already on the ground. driving conditions are very difficult especially because of the high winds here. 40-mile-an-hour gusts in some parts creating ground blizzards and whiteout conditions especially in rural areas. but air travel is not a whole lot easier. 500 flights have now been canceled out of o'hare airport. southwest is canceling all of its flights through midway through tomorrow and many of the flights that are still operating are delayed as much as 90 minutes. yet despite all of this, people in the midwest know they are not facing anything compared to the east coast, david. >> janel, thanks for the update. approximately 48 million people from the appalachians to southern new england may see as much as half a foot of snow from this new storm that's on the way. nbc meteorologist ginger zee is tracking the massive system. ginger, how big will this be and how long is it going to last? >> the good news is this will not be as bad as the storm last week. the bad news, it's falling on the same places that it did. as you've heard throughout the

broadcast thus far we'll turn and look at that storm already affecting chicago with part one of two. you'll get more tonight. and here's how it's going to go. i need to show you a confusing looking map. a lot of energy just forcing together, merging together, and what will happen is it's going to affect not only airlines which currently have more than 30-minute delays in chicago but that will start to do the old ripple effect. as you can see the coral color here, that's a winter storm warning. you have winter storm warnings stretching from southern minnesota into new england. and as you can see, this is the map everybody wants to know about. chicago will get up to a foot. new york and even the city included in that number as well. so we're keeping an eye on it, tracking it throughout the day. but this will be another big system. david? >> nbc meteorologist ginger zee, thanks for the update. just to give everybody the big picture, here are some statistics on the snow the mid-atlantic region has received. here in washington, d.c., it's the fourth biggest snowstorm ever, the one that hit over the

weekend with 17.8 inches at reagan national airport. dulles about 25 miles away and virginia had 32.4 inches. in philadelphia over the weekend it was the second biggest snowstorm with some 28.5 inches of snow. and in baltimore, maryland, so far this season, this is the second place for the snowiest season on record, 60.4 inches of snow for the season. some areas in baltimore over the weekend had more than 30 inches. so when does a $20 ride to the airport cost $100? apparently when the nation's capital is under 2 feet of snow. there are reports including some in "the washington post" today there has been some price gouging across the city. officials say if they catch anyone trying to make an illegal buck off the storm they will be cited. now on the west coast a second storm is heading for the san gabriel foothills in southern california today forcing 500 more homes to be evacuated today. debris basins meant to stop the

flowing mountain and 43 homes damaged. the area could get an inch or more of rain today and tomorrow. toyota's third recall -- this time it's for owners of the hybrid toyota is announcing another worldwide recall essentially hitting nearly all of their popular hybrid models including the prius. this now makes more than 8 million toyota vehicles recalled since october. first, it was the accelerator entrapment blamed on floor mats and then sticking accelerators and now complaints that some of the 2010 prius models the brakes pause before slowing down. this morning for the second time in a week, toyota president toyoda offered another apology as they took another hit. >> we will redouble our

commitment to quality. we will do everything to regain the confidence of our customers. >> cnbc's phil lebeau is live in chicago. phil, how widespread does this mean for americans who have a toyota, what does it mean? >> reporter: the 2010 prius, you're likely going to be involved in the recall. they makes a fix on the assembly line starting in january. anything built between may when they first came out and early january of this year, and that's about 130,000 prius models here in the united states, they're going to have to go through a software fix. we should point out this fix will take about a half hour and the idea is to close or eliminate the 1 or 1 1/2 second pause between when the foot goes on the brake and you actually feel the car slowing down. most of the complaints filed, and there have been about 124 to the federal government, most have centered around the complaint that when people on bumpy surfaces or on icy conditions when they hit the brakes, the car does not immediately start slowing down. there is a feeling there that they have that delayed reaction

and so as a result the software glitch is going to be addressed by toyota when people bring their cars into the dealerships. >> cnbc's phil lebeau in chicago. phil, thanks for the update. and a washington footnote on all of this, toyota's north american chief will testify or is scheduled to testify before the house oversight committee. lawmakers want to know who knew what and when about possible safety issues. breaking developments in afghanistan where the u.s. military says two american service members have been killed, one apparently died in an ied explosion south of kabul. the other was killed during a battle with insurgents in eastern afghanistan. and developing now iran has announced that it is accelerating its nuclear program and the world is, of course, reacting to it. diplomats in the u.n. are trying to figure out what to do. condemnation for what iran has announced it's going to do. iranian officials say they have

begun enriching uranium to a higher level despite the objections worldwide. u.s. officials say they worry the process could eventually be used to give iran nuclear weapons. and just a few moments, president obama is scheduled to sit down with congressional democrats and republicans to talk about jobs and the economy. at the same time the joint economic committee on capitol hill is holding a hearing on ways to promote job creation. richard wolffe is live at the white house as the author of "renegade." tell us what the goal is of the meeting today. >> reporter: the meeting is the president following through on his promise of the state of the union. it's the first of these monthly meetings with not just democratic leaders but republican leaders from the house and senate. they want to talk about jobs and the economy. specifically the breaks for small businesses to create jobs and try to get the senate to move ahead with what the house has already passed. so this is the president saying, "a," i want to work with republicans. if they cannot work together on

jobs, then it doesn't leave much hope for health care. >> and, richard, as far as the overall strategies so the white house can say, we're reaching out, trying to be bipartisan? >> reporter: that's right. they are trying to say, hey, we'll listen to your ideas. this is not entirely taking place on cameras. cameras are there at the start of it but there is outreach to say let's find common ground when it comes it to tax credits and small businesses. republicans have been talking about that, too. >> msnbc political analyst richard wolffe. richard, thanks for the update from the white house. >> reporter: thank you, david. if you're looking to travel anytime soon on american airlines, get ready to pay up if you want a blanket or pillow next time you fly coach. starting on may 1st on flights more than two hours, passengers on american airlines will have to purchase a blanket and pillow for $8. say hello to "sports illustrated's" newest swimsuit cover model, brooklyn decker. brooklyn knew she was in the issue but she didn't know she was on the cover until yesterday

afternoon. the "today" show snagged the first interview with her. >> i feel like the new orleans saints did sunday night, if that gives it away. it's the equivalent of a model basically winning the mvp of the super bowl. >> brooklyn is married to tennis star andy roddick. she was chosen for the cover out of more than 30 models. the massive earthquake hit haiti four weeks ago today. was a survivor really just pulled from the rubble? plus, investigators are still trying to figure out what caused a deadly midair collision over the weekend. we will hear from someone who survived the crash. and are you missing president george w. bush about now? well, apparently somebody in minnesota is. will everyone with constipation please report to gate 17?

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there has apparently been a miracle in earthquake ravaged haiti. a family says their son was pulled alive yesterday from the rubble in port-au-prince. here's a picture of the 28-year-old man. doctors at the university of miami's field hospitals say they are treating him but they are not sure how long he was trapped. >> he was dehydrated and quite sick, and so we evaluated him. we gave iv fluids. we checked the labs and we decided to transfer the patient and he's doing reasonably well now. >> we're expecting more in a news conference in about 45 minutes. joining us is miguel almaguera. migu miguel, what do we know about the circumstances this man was found? >> reporter: david, this story does turn out to be true. the 28-year-old map was pulled out of a local supermarket. he was pulled from the rubble yesterday. that would make it nearly four

weeks of him being buried under the rubble according to his family claims. his mother came out and spoke to reporters. she said her son went missing january 12th, the day of the 7.0 magnitude quake, that he had been trapped under some rubble. he spoke to some of his rescuers and told them he had been receiving water from some people during the four weeks. do doctors say that would have to be necessary for anyone to survive that long of a time period. several weeks ago we talked about a 15-year-old girl that had survived about two weeks and a 28-year-old man who had survived 11 days. this would, of course, be a remarkable story if, in fact, confirmed. a press conference later on today we hope to have new information. >> miguel almaguera with the latest from port-au-prince, haiti. miguel, thanks for the update. the obama administration, as we said, is focused domestically on trying to get people back to work. right now at the white house president obama is meeting with democratic and republican leaders on jobs and the economy. but analysts disagree on whether

the plan will be effective in helping people who are hurting. an associate director for the economic program and ray headerman is a senior analyst at the her tamg foundation. ray, let's start with you. the bottom line is whether or not government spending can help. losing 800,000 jobs a month a year ago and now to 20,000, people could argue the stimulus has worked. >> absolutely not. if you look how the benchmark has been set for the stimulus. the unemployment rate would drop down below 8%. we're at a 9.7%. >> but they also said that before anybody knew how bad -- ray, before anybody knew how bad the economy really was, that's when they said it. the president said in the spring that even if you passed a stimulus bill he's expecting unemployment to get up to 10%, which it did. in any case, andrew, what do you make of the argument, there are people who do not believe any government spending can do

anything. >> i think the truth is at a time when nobody else is spending it's really important for the government to step in there and provide the funding, provide jobs as needed to keep people afloat as the private sector comes back. the president himself has said at the end of the day it's businesses that create most of the jobs. but until those businesses start to spend, it's really important too much the government making sure that people have the paychecks that they need so they can afford groceries, their houses. those are the kinds of things people worry about at night. having the government step in and spend is really important over the long term. >> let's take a look at which sectors of the economy are actually hiring. these are involving the january job gains. t temporary help 52,000. retail 42,000. the federal government 33,000. manufacturing 11,000. ray, who is responsible for this? >> well, the private sector. i think if you take a look health care we know has always bull pen a growth sector. take a look at education. for two of the last three months we have seen a rebound in the private sector job growth.

manufacturing was a very pleasant surprise. 250,000 since the fall, usually a harbinger. we will see a recovery starting in the next few months. >> andrew, as far as construction, minus 75,000 jobs, transportation minus 19,000 jobs, finance minus 13,000, leisure and hospitality minus 14,000. what's the argument in terms of the government spent mopey in each of these sectors and yet they have not done well? >> i think you need to look at the long-term projections for those sectors. the jobs bill, with the draft i've seen encourages more investment and infrastructure particularly for transportation. i think those are the kinds of places where we will see job growth as we restored the infrastructure to the state that it needs to come towards. construction certainly has been hard hit if you think commercial real estate is now in its down swing.

no new home construction. to weatherize and create better, more energy efficient homes, the weatherization programs and things like that you will see that as money starts flowing not just being allocated that those jobs will, in fact, be created, also. >> andrew, the associate director for the economic mobility program, rea hederman, thank you both for coming in today. >> thank you, david. so two planes collided in midair killing three people. surprisingly three other passengers survived the fiery crash. we'll hear from one of them. the new orleans saints are celebrating their first-ever super bowl victory but wait. didn't the indianapolis colts win the game? talk about an off the chart mistake. time for your business entrepreneur of the week. ed adams was a registered nurse. in 2009 he realized his dream of

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25 million kids in the united states according to the cdc are overweight or obese putting them at risk for

diabetes, heart disease, even depression. today first lady michelle obama's launching her let's move campaign aimed at tackling childhood obesity. the more you know is part of that effort. >> it's easy to say we need to eat healthy and exercise more. it's just as easy to say we'll start tomorrow. but our kids are running out of time. you're the first generation that might not live as long as their parents because of the health risk associated with being overweight. >> secretary of agriculture tom vilsack is joining the campaign and is with us from the white house. mr. secretary, thanks for being with us. >> you bet, david. >> is this just an education issue or is it also a policy issue, and if it is a policy issue as well, what needs to change? >> well, david, it is a policy issue. congress has a great opportunity with the child nutrition reauthorization act this year to make a statement about childhood obesity by giving us the resources to improve the quality of meals we serve in school breakfast and school lunch.

31 million youngsters receive school lunch and 11 million school breakfast. it's a real opportunity to make a very specific statement about obesity. >> and whose budget will the money come from? how will it be paid for? >> that's basically the usda's responsibility. that is part of our budget. 70% of our budget is in the way of food assistance and so we're responsible for making sure this program is operated properly. we've had a wake-up call. the institute of medicine saying we have so much sodium and fat in our program. we need to do a better job of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low fat dairy. >> is there anything the federal government can or should do or should it stay out of telling kids to exercise? >> there's no question we need to have our youngsters be more physically active. the healthy school challenge the usda operates puts the spotlight on schools doing a better job of nutrition and physical activity. recess, pe, we need to reinvert that back into the school day. we're partnering with the dairy

council and the nfl on their play 60 to have 60 minutes of physical activity. lots of opportunities for us to have partnerships and the first lady's leadership is essential to it. >> secretary of agriculture tom vilsack as part of the campaign. mr. secretary, thanks for being with us today. we appreciate it. >> you bet, david. first lady michelle obama will officially launch the let's move campaign against childhood obesity today at noon eastern time and you will see it hear live on msnbc. so how is this for a mistake. a virginia newspaper reversed the score of the super bowl in its early editions making the indianapolis colts the winner. the virginia pilot printed the story correctly but the score in bold-faced red showed the colts beating the saints. the newspaper said it was embarrassed and has now apologized for the gaffe. who dat? the survivors of a fiery collision are speaking out about their horrific ordeal.

there were three planes in the air at the time. the two that collided and a glider that was being towed. miraculously the glider's pilot saw the collision was imminent on quickly unhooked the glider's tether and flew right through the fireball. he described that moment in an exclusive interview on the "today" show. >> it was instant. it was a huge fireball. i wasn't sure if i was released yet. it was really quick. i pitched back, banked to the right and we flew straight through fire. i didn't see the wreckage anymore because it was gone because everything was red. >> investigators are still trying to figure out what caused the two planes to crash. my colleague, tamron hall, will speak live to the survivors at the top of the next hour. thousands of people are being forced to leave their los angeles homes because of dangerous mud slides and they only have hours to evacuate. and in new orleans where they're preparing for one of the

biggest parties, will the celebrations top mardi gras? okay, class, our special guest is here -- ellen page. hi, ellen! hi, ellen! hi, ellen! hi, ellen! we're going on a field trip to china! wow. [ chuckles ] when i was a kid, we -- we would just go to the -- the farm. [ cow moos ] [ laughter ] no, seriously, where are you guys going? ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! [ female announcer ] the new classroom. see it. live it. share it. on the human network. cisco.

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for more complete relief from the sinus triple threat. new sudafed pe® triple action™. more complete relief. welcome back. i'm david shuster in washington. after closing below 10,000 for the first time in three months, with one hour into the trading day, stocks are heading much higher. we will tell you why. the white house isn't happy with this morning with one health insurance company. they are very disturbed and want answers. details on that straight ahead. people are lining up across the country for free breakfast today. we'll tell you where you can get it. and of course we're keeping our eyes on the winter storm that's about to dump even more snow here on the east coast. 48 million people according to forecasters could be hit with up to half a foot in some areas. some areas will see 20 inches. and many of those same areas are still digging out from the blizzard that dumped nearly

three feet over the weekend. take a look at this picture we got from one of our viewers, a man using a kayak to have a little fun on capitol hill. you can send us your know pictures. e-mail them to firstperson@msnbc.com. president obama has just signed -- we were talking about michelle obama a few minutes ago. michelle obama is putting forward the program to essentially deal with child o obesity. the president just signed it and is talking about it. let's listen. >> -- as i said in my state of the union, part of what we'd like to see is the ability of congress to move forward in a more bipartisan fashion on some of the key challenges that the country is facing right now. i think it's fair to say that the american people are frustrated with a lack of progress on some key issues and although the parties are not going to agree on every single

e item, there should be some areas where we can agree. and we can get some things done even as we have vigorous debates on some of those issues that weigh don't agree on. a good place to start, and what i hope to spend a lot of time on in these discussions today, is how we can move forward and a jobs package that encourages small business to hire, that is helping to create the kind of environment where now that we have economic growth people actually are starting to add to their payroll. i think there are some ideas on both the republican and democrat side that will allow us to potentially, for example, lower rates for small businesses on their taxes to help spur on some growth. and my hope is that both the house and the senate will see some packages moving over the next several weeks that can provide a jump-start to hiring and start lowering the unemployment rate. another area where i hope we can

find some agreement is on the issue of getting our deficits and debt under control. both parties have stated their concerns about it. i think both parties recognize that it's going to take a lot of work. i have put forward the idea of a fiscal commission and i'm going to be discussing both with my democratic and republican colleagues how we can get that moving as quickly as possible so that we can start taking some concrete action. i think the american people want to see that concrete action. i'm also going to just be talking about some more mundane matters, things like we have our government personnel in place on critical positions -- in critical positions that involve our basic government functioning and seeing if we can accelerate that be a try to find some agreement in those areas.

and then i'm going to spend time listening because there may be some priorities that both the republican and democratic leaders have that they want to raise at this meeting. my hope is this is not going to be a rare situation. we're going to be doing these on a regular basis and i'm very thankful that everybody here is taking the time to come. i'm confident that if we move forward in the spirit of keeping in mind what's best for the american people that we should be able to accomplish a lot. all right? thank you very much, everybody. >> thank you, everyone. >> so that, of course, president obama talking with congressional lead e leaders at the top of their meeting on jobs and the economy. the president also spoke about obesity. we will bring that for you later. in the meantime, here's a look at what's going on with the dow right now and this is pretty interesting. the dow is up 145 points after dropping yesterday below 10,000 for the first time in several months. what's happening, according to

investors, is that the european union has been signaling it's going to help the country of greece with its mounting debt problem and while it's a complicated issue it is essentially driving the euro higher. it's raising confidence in europe which is now being felt around the globe and, in fact, the dollar is also doing a little bit better. you can see investors are acting positively this morning. the dow jones industrial average is up about 142 points here about an hour and a half into the trading day. now the white house focuses a lot on the economy and jobs. there also is this issue of health care and whether health care reform will move forward or not and the obama administration today is now demanding some answers from a california insurance company because of their tactics. anthem/blue cross is planning to raise rates by, get this, up to 39% for individual policies. what is anthem doing? christina bell tony joins us now, a senior reporter for talking points memo.

chr christina, what's going on here? >> this is really the obama administration getting a little bit tougher on insurers. you've heard them talk about bad tactics and the fact that if you don't pass health care reform now, you're going to see insurance rates continue to rise. kathleen sebelius sent a letter to and them/blue cross demanding to explain why they're raising their rates and also asking that they tell their insured -- people that are insured under their plan how much of their money that goes to their insurance is actually being -- going to marketing and sales, to high salaries for the executives. this is a pretty tough tactic. >> and the actions of anthem and the actions of other insurance companies and we have some reporting there are other anecdotes, all of this comes at the anger at the insurance companies as the white house is preparing to have this summit at the end of february with the republicans and democrats to talk about health care reform and there are some indications republicans may decide not to participate? >> yeah, there was this letter that the minorities sent to the

president saying, well, we've already presented our ideas. this is just going to be looking at the same bills that you say you support, the house bill and the senate bill. what's the point of even coming? press secretary gibbs hit back saying that was kind of ridiculous. it does seem like they're picking it back up organizing for america, the president's political arm saying they are relaunching their health care action center. you have more talk on health care. so it's possible they might actually achieve something here. >> and perhaps by reminding people of the actions of the for profit insurance company they can whip up anger and convince people that something has to be done. christina bellantoni, you can see her great reporter and that of her colleagues at talkingpoints.com. >> thanks, david. first lady michelle obama is taking on childhood obesity today but just because you might be a bit overweight, does that mean you're not healthy?

plus, a restaurant around the country is giving out free breakfast today until 2:00 p.m. eastern. we will tell you where you can get some free food. : could swito really save you 15% or more on car insurance? host: did the waltons take way too long to say goodnight? mom: g'night john boy. g'night mary ellen. mary ellen: g'night mama. g'night erin. elizabeth: g'night john boy. jim bob: g'night grandpa. elizabeth: g'night ben. jim bob:'night. elizabeth: g'night jim bob. jim bob: g'night everybody, grandpa: g'night everybody. jim bob: g'night daddy. vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more. that keep you cool and dry have now inspired stayfree® to create a whole new level of comfort when it comes to your period.

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for most, using the internet is an everyday occurrence and now more and more people are turning to the web to stay healthy. a new survey released shows during the first six months of 2009, more than half of americans use the internet to look up health information. 5% contacted their doctor via e-mail and 6% used the web to refill a prescription. >> just three more days until the start of the winter olympic games. athletes are arriving in

vancouver from all over the world. meantime, the olympic torch is going to make a brief visit today to the united states. you're looking at a live picture from blaine, washington. any minute now a canadian runner will hand off the torch. this marks the only time the relay torch will visit the united states ahead of the games. the winter games kick off in three days and nine hours. you can catch all the action on the stations of nbc. in a city known for partying, today will be one to remember for new orleans as the saints come marching in to celebrate their first super bowl victory. and their star quarterback is savoring every moment. last night drew brees talked to david letterman. >> so it was a bit of a leap of faith for new orleans to offer you a deal, right? >> it was. i only had two opportunities, the miami dolphins or the new orleans saints.

i took visits to both places, had great visits in both places, but i really felt like new orleans was a calling for myself and my wife not only to be the rebuilding of an organization and a team but also a city and a region. >> and, indeed, sunday's super bowl win is not just about football but a city coming back from the brink. janua janet shamblian is there. janet, what a party it's going to be today. the big if question for a lot o people who have been there for mardi gras, will this top it? >> reporter: they're seeing if you've seen super bowl parties in other cities after they won the super bowl, new orleans is going to put them to shame. that will look like a long line at the grocery store check-out. they have got festivities planned. they already have all of the great floats from the krewes who have donated them today. they will be throwing beads from these floats. you will see the coach there holding that vince lombardi

trophy up high and they're experiencing a little bit of super bowl flu here in the crescent city as people, wow, haven't been showing up to work and school. i wonder what's going on there. some organizations like tulane university and some of the schools are letting out early. we will have coverage throughout the day. it's destined to be a great show, david. >> indeed. janet, have fun. you have the assignment of the week. of the month. maybe of the year. >> reporter: i do. >> depending on where you lie. in any case, janet, thank you. a quick look at some of the other stories on our radar right now. just ahead of today's snowstorm, the u.s. senate is expected to convene at 2:00 this afternoon and take up the nomination of craig becker to the national relations board. the republicans are against becker and democrat ben nelson says that he will support a republican filibuster. we'll see if they filibuster.

and adviser to david patterson says paterson will announce his campaign for governor next week. in the meantime paterson is blasting the media for callous and sleazy allegations of extramarital affairs and drug abuse. and the colorado man who pled guilty in the balloon boy hoax is now out of jail and serving the rest of his sentence in a work release program. richard heene began serving a 90-day sentence after pleading guilty to falsely influnsing police. as we told you earlier first lady michelle obama kicks off a campaign today aimed at ending childhood obesity within a generation. but even she admits getting kids to put down the french fries and chicken nuggets is not an easy task. we're joined by two people on opposite sides of the fit or fat divide. mimi roth is president and founder of the national action against obesity. she has led the charge to rid

schools of birthday cupcakes and cookies. a group that says people of all sizes can can be healthy. deb, let's start with you. does that extend to children, the idea that children can be fat and healthy? >> absolutely. one of the big myths is that body size is somehow representative of a person's overall health or their pr practices, their health practices, and we'd like to change the world so that people stop reading those things from the size of a person's body. there are thin people, thin children, who are in trouble with their nutrition, with their sedentary practices. there are fat children who are doing great with things and we would like to see this very same discussion. >> mimi, how about it? >> it's certainly true you can look healthy and not be healthy

but it is not true -- it's wishful thinking on her part and it's dangerous wishful thinking to think that a fat child is a healthy child. anyone with feet, hips and knees, anyone with an endocrine system, anyone with arteries is not healthy if they're fat. and we now know that overweight boys are seeing a delayed puberty. we see overweight girls with an early puberty. it is a dangerous message to say that fat is fit. we even have a higher instance of birth defects. >> what about the argument that all of that may be true but what about the argument it's a family's responsibility, not the government's to get that across? >> i like you're saying that and i agree we want to make sure families are keeping families healthy but when families fail and when society fails, there has to be some sort of intervention. i think government is the last intervention but we're at the point now where almost all americans are overweight, where a third of kids are overweight, a third of kids are expected to develop diabetes. it's time for serious

intervention. if we weren't failing as a society, as parents, we wouldn't need a lot of policies that are going to be put in place. i would like to see families step up, but if we won't, someone else has to. >> deb, we all want kids to have the great self-esteem and feel good about themselves but, again, there are isolated cases where heavy kids feel fine. to a point there is a trend that heavier children, heavier adults tend to have more health problems. >> i think the wishful thinking is the idea that we can control people's weight with any known intervention at this point. what we can control is their health and the quality of the their life. we know that certain practices are good for everybody of all sizes and we know that the very same cafeteria serving the thin children as well as the fat children. we know that the people who are now adults struggling with these diseases we're trying to prevent were thin as children. and it's perfectly great to have a debate and a discussion about how to make environments healthy

for everyone. >> deb, i'm sorry to cut you off but we have to deal with some breaking news. so i'm going to thank deb and mimi, founder of the national action against obesity. thank you both. we want to take our viewers to los angeles where police sharpshooters are apparently holding two men at gunpoint in an apartment complex after reports that shots have been fired. you can see that this is in the wood land hills area to the west of tarzana. three police are on the roof of a nearby building with their guns trained on the man who has hands up. so far no victims or weapons have been found but, again, los angeles police department confirming that they are holding a couple of men at gunpoint with sharpshooters on nearby buildings. this is in the wood land hills area of california. we will keep you up to date as this story develops. former president george w. bush has been out of office for over a year now but someone in

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that's a lot of eggs. so rest assured, ladies, it's going to be a rough week for you egg layers. >> you saw the ad during the super bowl. today all across the country people are flocking to denny's for their free grand slam breakfast. nearly 2 million people took advantage of the promotion last year. kntv's bob radell where they're known for their big breakfast buffets. what's been the scene like today? >> reporter: good morning. this promotion started at 6:00 today. we are south of san francisco. when it started at 6:00 a.m.

they had people lined up outside. business has dropped off since. we estimate that in about the past two hours they probably served about 300 meals. they are willing to get up early to take advantage of. you are both out of work. i imagine this helps? >> it does very much. >> reporter: what would you be doing? >> usually i skip breakfast. i go straight for brunch. >> reporter: best of luck to you. last year they sold -- they gave away 2 million heels. they figured they'd do it again this time, david. >> bob, thank you very much. again, we want to get our viewers back to the breaking news in los angeles. north of santa monica, police sharpshooters are apparently holding two men at gunpoint in an apartment complex. reports shots were fired. again three police on the roof

of a nearby building with their guns aimed at a man who apparently have their hands up in the air. this is on ventura boulevard and this is to the west of burbank. officials say that at about 6:20 this morning somebody reported hearing shots and that's when the situation developed. there are no details right now about the confrontation or what police have found and, again, officers are apparently searching the complex for evidence of a shooting. we'll have more details at the top of the hour with tamron hall. i'll see you back here at 3:00 p.m. from washington, d.c. uh-huh. yeah. fashion deficient. and tom... copy incapable. it's open kimono time. looking good, dan. oh, we want to make sure all our ducks in a row. yeah. volume control syndrome. but we focus on the talent and skill that each person... brings to the team. i mean, no one's really concerned about labels. not even mine. labels get in the way. disabilities rarely do. visit thinkbeyondthelabel.com to evolve your work force.